Thermostat



W. A. RAY

THERMOSTAT Aug. 7, 1945.

Original Filed May 14, 1940 Snnentor: mil/AM A. PAY

(Ittotneg Patented Aug. 7, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE THERMOSTAT William A. Ray, Los Angeles, Calif.

Original application May 14, 1940, Serial No. 335,085. Divided and this application April 19, 1943, Serial No. 483,545

6 Claims.

This invention relates to thermostats; the Present application being a division of my cop'ending application, Serial No. 335,085, filed May 14, 1940.

An object of this invention is to provide a thermostat which includes a, movable contactcarrying arm for adjusting the setting of the thermostat.

Another object is to provide a dual thermostat comprising a bifurcated bimetallic blade which carries a contact element on each of its branches; and an arm carrying contact elements cooperable with those of the bimetallic blade. the a being movable to simultaneously adjust the operative settings of the individual pairs of contacts. I

Another object is to provide a thermostat, of the character described in the preceding objects, wherein the'bimetallic blade and the armare both of U-shape; the arm being of resilient metal and lying within the confines of the U-shaped lade.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be found in the description, the drawing, and the claims; and, for full understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the follow ing detailed descriptionand accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a view, in perspective, of a thermostat embodying the invention.

In the drawing, the numeral ll indicates a U-shaped metallic arm or strip, the side'arms of which are urged by their own resilience in a direction, toward each other. Threaded in the free end portion of the upper arm of this strip are laterally-spaced electrical contact elements l2 and I3. A U-shaped bifurcated blade I, of bimetallic material, insulatingly carries on the free end portion of each of its upper spaced arms a contact element, l5 and I 6, which are cooperable respectively with the contact elements I! and I3. The- U-shaped strip ll lies within the confines of the U-shaped bimetallic blade, and the lower arms of the strip and the blade are clamped together by a short hollow screw I'I, extending through openings in these arms, and a nut l8; these parts forming a base for the strip and blade. Threaded in the hollow screw l'l isan adjusting screw, l9, the reduced upper end portion or tip of which freely extends through an opening in the upper .arm of strip H, the shoulder of the screw below its tip engaging the underside of that arm.

'When the thermostat is employed for sequential operation of the contacts, one of the contact to its cooperating contact l5 than element I3 is to contact l6; therefore, upon change of temperature such as to cause the upper arm of, blade it to warp downwardly, contacts I: and i5 first engage, and subsequently contacts l3 and I6 additionally engage. The adjusting screw l9 controls the temperature setting of the thermostat, the same diiferential of engagement of the pairs of contacts being maintained at different settings. As shown, the connecting leads are preferably soldered directly to the contacts l5 and i6 and to the contact-carrying strip H.

The specific embodiment of my invention herein shown and described is to be regarded as illustrative of the invention and not as a limiter tion; the scope of the invention being determined only by the appended claims.

' I claim as my invention:

1. In a thermostat: a blade of bimetallic Inaterial mounted at one of its ends on said base, I

a resilient metallic arm s0 mounted at one of its ends on said base that its free end portion lies between the free end portion of said blade and the plane of said base and in spaced relation to the blade,'said free end portion of the blade being bifurcated and carrying at its respective ends a first pair of electrical contact elements, a second pair of electrical contact elements carried by said free end portion of the arm and cooperable respectively with said first pair of contact elements, and means mounted on said base for so moving the free end portion of the arm as to adjust the relative operative positions of said contact elements.

2. In a thermostat: a base, a U-shaped blade of bimetallic material mounted by one of its side arms on said base, a .U-shaped resilient metallic arm so mounted by one of its side arms on said base that the free end portion of the other of its side arms lies between the base and the free end portion of the other of the side arms of the blade and in spaced relation to the base and the blade, said other side arm of the blade being bifurcated and carrying on its respective end portions a first pair of electrical contact elements, a second pair of electrical contact elements carried by said other side arm of said U-shaped arm and coelements l2 and I3 (element l2, as shown in the operable respectively with said first pair of contact elements, and means extending from said base forso moving said other arm of the U- shaped arm as to adjust the relative operative positions of said contact elements.

3. A thermostat, as defined in claim 2, wherein said U-shaped arm is so arranged that it lies substantially within the confines oi said U-shaped blade, and the means tor moving the arm comprises a screw threaded in a portion or said base.

4. A thermostat, as defined in claim 2, wherein at least one element of one of said pairs 01 contact elements is' adjustable with respect to the element cooper-able therewith. V

5. In a thermostat: a base, means forming a plurality of blades 0! bimetallic material mounted at one of their respective ends on said base, a contact element carried by the free end or each of said blades, a resilient metallic arm mounted at one or its ends on the base and carrying at its free end a plurality of contact elements cooperable respectively with the contact elements carried by the blades, at least one of said contact elements being adiustably mounted, and means mounted on the base for moving the free end 0! moms? saidarmsoassimultaneouslytoaddusttheoperative positions of all the contact elements.

6. In a thermostat: a base, means forming a plurality of U-shaped blades of bimetallic material mounted by one or their respective side arms on said base, a contact element carried by the free end of each 01' the other side arms of said blades, a U-shaped resilient metallic arm mounted by one of its side arms on the base and carrying at the tree end of the other or its side arms a plurality oi contact elements cooperable respectively with the contact elements carried by the blades, at least one of said 'contact elements being adiustably mounted, and means mounted on the base for moving said other side arm of the U-shaped arm so as simultaneously to adjust the operative positions of all the contact elements.

WILLIAM A. RAY. 

